@oblomov @jimfl You could just put in a quick:
say "You leaf through [one of]the complete works of Marcel Proust, in pristine condition[or]some second-hand detective novels[or]a copy of [italic type]The Art of the Deal[roman type], in which someone has written admiring marginalia[or]a book on writing interactive fiction with Inform 7[or][italic type]Vector Algebra, 4th edition[roman type][at random], but quickly decide you have other things to do."
😃